Ashwath Narayan, Cleveland Aradhana 2015

[maduraimini]

I have heard this young man's name often and heard him a few times on the You Tube. I heard his full concert and was wowed by his presentation. Loved the way he took a song and adorned it with swaras and wove the ragas into beautiful strings.
!. Started with Begada raga varnam .
2. Arabhi raga Thiruppavai 'Ongi ulagalanda'.
3. Varali raga kriti 'Ne pogadagunde' by Thyagaraja.
4. A fast 'Vidajaladhura of Thyagaraja in the raga Janaranjani.
5. He sang a rarely heard Swathi Tirunal sahitya in Todi, 'Mandara dara sundara'. I like this song and was happy to hear him sing this, as I seldom hear it.
6. A beautiful Bilahari raga alapana was the next one. The alapana was stimulating. The song was ' Sri Chamundeswari palaya'. I don't know who the composer is- Maybe Harikesanallur Muthiah Bagavathar who has composed many songs on Chamundeswari of Mysore. This also had beautiful chittaswarams like most of his compositions. I may be wrong. Anybody who knows about this song, please let me know. He sang swarams for 'rakha nee'.
7. An invigorating suruti padam of Swathi Tirunal was the last piece. He started with ;jalaja bandhuvu', then went on to Alarsara parithapam.
I wanted him to continue, as I was getting entrenched in his music, when Sundaramji had to stop him for the next program.
It was a wonderful program and he is young and has many more years to go. I am sure, he will learn more, polish his style and be one of the top singers. May God Bless him.

[rshankar]

Maduraimini - IIRC, the bilahari song was made popular by Smt. MSS, and it is a composition of Mysuru Sri Vasudevachar

[arasi]

M&M,
Thanks for the detailed review of the concert. I heard parts of it.

As Ravi says, the Bilahari kruti is by Mysore VAsudevachar--the anupallavi has the mudrA of his: vAsudEva sahajAtE.The neraval was at rAkA, nishAkara sannibha vadanE.

You may also know that he is Mrs.KVN, Padma Narayanaswamy's nephew and student. No wonder his list has many songs from KVN's repertoire.

Yes, a very promising singer.Does bring KVN moments for us. In years, he will prove himself to be a true torch bearer for KVN, we hope. I still remember the way he sang for Narthaki Nataraj's dance at Cleveland ever so sweetly, brimming with bhAvam.

[maduraimini]

Thanks rshankar and Arasi for the data on the Bilahari song. I don't remember hearing this song. I did not hear the mudra 'Vasudeva' either. Thanks.
I also din't know he is Padma's nephew. Looks like there are so many things I don't know! Like I tell myself ' katradu kai mannalavu, kalladadu kadal alavu' lThe things I know are fistful, things I don't know are like the ocean.
Is the young man from Chennai? No wonder, he has the KVN style.

[arasi]

vAsudEva sahajAtE comes in the anupallavi.

You know your CM and are a keen rasikA. That's plenty. The rest of it all is upari (extra bits), that's all